Re: [Harp-L] Re: Bored with blues harmonica

[philharpn@xxxxxxx]

That really bothers me too! I can't understand why all these award-winning classical pianists who can sight-read a fly on a chart can't play blues and boogie woogie in public.


This is old argument: who is the better player? The classically trained musician or the free form self-taught jammer?


Why doesn't a sax player play the trumpet? Everybody knows a sax sounds better than a trumpet.


Some people play classical music. Some play pop/jazz/blues. Some people play both. 


Wynton Marsalis plays jazz and classical and excels at both. His emphasis on jazz is on the early period, noting that the history of jazz is important and often neglected. For this attitude he is attacked for not being progressive enough. Why doesn't he play modern jazz? 


Trumpet playing is a lot like guitar playing and harmonica playing: every mediocre player is positive he can play better than (fill in the blank) if just got the chance. Which is not true. 


Some of you may have heard of classical chromatic player Robert Bonfiglio who concertizes with various orchestras around the country. Not only does he kill during his classical concert; when he plays blues for his encore, he kills the audience all over again.


I regularly see national touring blues acts at Callahan's Music Hall, a local bar/concert hall that is only open for concerts. I never see lame untalented acts. Callahan's is one of the few spots open as most of the blues bars in the Detroit area have closed.


I also attend the pops concerts series of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. They don't usually play too much blues or jazz.




Back in the days when I was working and the owner of my newspaper also owned the MacPaper, I was able to be a day sponsor (with matching funds from the company) at the Wayne State public radio station. Robert Jones played a lot of early blues for two hours every Saturday on his "Blues from the Lowlands" for many years. I would buy a box of 2-hour tapes, record the show and listen all week driving two and from work.


My day sponsor message:


"A day without blues is like a day without sunshine."


Keep on harpin


Phil
























-----Original Message-----
From: David Kissel <dkissave@xxxxxxx>
To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, May 5, 2015 11:21 am
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Bored with blues harmonica


This post isn't about harmonica, but it may be relevant. 


One of my best
friends started playing  wife's piano after listening  to a heck of a lot of
Otis Spann, Pinetop,  and David Maxwell. He now is an almost entirely
self-taught  piano player: Blues/boogie woogie limited to 3 or 4 keys. 


His
wife is a classically trained  pianist who has won numerous awards.  She sight
reads very well, and has a stack of sheet music (Chopin, Bach, Beethoven, etc.)
at home. 



In the 35 years of our friendship I have NEVER seen her play a
note in public. And I repeatedly ask her to play. She can't play a note without
sheet music in front of her. I have seen her play a few times at home:
Technically perfect, but dry as a bone. 


Meanwhile her husband is asked to
play everywhere there is a piano. I've seen him get  a room full of the
stuffiest folks in the world smiling, dancing, laughing, and having a great
time. He sits in with pros who ask him to play for the whole set. I saw him play
at his father's funeral with so much emotion  that the preacher needed 5 minutes
to recover. 


Sure there are a lot of sucky harmonica players out there,
including me. But something about this music touches people, even when it's
played badly. 


David Kissel